If the American public understood what is actually known about the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life and how we know about them, uncertainty about evolution would drop precipitously, creationist arguments would fall on deaf ears, and public education in biology would make much more sense than it now does. Macroevolution must ...

If the American public understood what is actually known about the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life and how we know about them, uncertainty about evolution would drop precipitously, creationist arguments would fall on deaf ears, and public education in biology would make much more sense than it now does. Macroevolution must take a much more prominent place in K-12 science teaching. To do so, a curriculum must be redeveloped at both K-12 and college levels, so that preparation in macroevolution is a required part of K-12 biology preparation. Minimize

Synopsis Although contemporary high school and college textbooks of biology generally cover the principles and data of microevolution (genetic and populational change) and speciation rather well, coverage of what is known of the major changes in evolution (macroevolution), and how the evidence is understood is generally poor to nonexistent. It i...

Synopsis Although contemporary high school and college textbooks of biology generally cover the principles and data of microevolution (genetic and populational change) and speciation rather well, coverage of what is known of the major changes in evolution (macroevolution), and how the evidence is understood is generally poor to nonexistent. It is critical to improve this because acceptance of evolution by the American public rests on the understanding of how we know what we know about the emergence of major new taxonomic groups, and about their adaptations, behaviors, and ecologies in geologic time. An efficient approach to this problem is to improve the illustrations in college textbooks to show the consilience of different lines of fossil, morphological, and molecular evidence mapped on phylogenies. Such ‘‘evograms’ ’ will markedly improve traditional illustrations of phylogenies, ‘‘menageries,’ ’ and ‘‘companatomies.’’ If ‘‘evograms’ ’ are installed at the college level, the basic principles and evidence of macroevolution will be more likely taught in K-12, thus providing an essential missing piece in biological education. Minimize

Adaptive scenarios in evolutionary biology have always been based on incremental improvements through a series of adaptive stages. But they have often been justified by appeal to assumptions of how natural selection must work or by appeal to optimality arguments or notions of evolutionary process. Cladistic methodology, though it cannot logicall...

Adaptive scenarios in evolutionary biology have always been based on incremental improvements through a series of adaptive stages. But they have often been justified by appeal to assumptions of how natural selection must work or by appeal to optimality arguments or notions of evolutionary process. Cladistic methodology, though it cannot logically falsify hypotheses of process, provides hypotheses of evolutionary pattern independent of other considerations and so provides a useful test of consilience with genealogy. I illustrate the cross-test of hypotheses of the evolution of several functions and adaptations related to the origin of bird flight with independently derived phylogenetic analysis. Consilience does not support ideas that the close ancestors of birds were arboreal or evolved flight from the trees, nor that they were physiologically intermediate between typical reptiles and living birds, nor that feathers evolved for flight. Rather, the ancestors of birds were terrestrial, they were fast-growing, active animals, and the original functions of feathers were in insulation and coloration. Minimize

It has long been argued that Charles Darwin was the founder of the school of “evolutionary taxonomy” of the Modern Synthesis and, accordingly, that he recognized genealogy and similarity as dual, synergistic criteria for classification. This view is based on three questionable interpretations: first, of isolated passages in the 13th chapter of t...

It has long been argued that Charles Darwin was the founder of the school of “evolutionary taxonomy” of the Modern Synthesis and, accordingly, that he recognized genealogy and similarity as dual, synergistic criteria for classification. This view is based on three questionable interpretations: first, of isolated passages in the 13th chapter of the Origin of Species ; second, of one phrase in a letter that Darwin wrote about the work of an author he had partly misunderstood; and third, of his taxonomic practice in the barnacle monographs, which only implicitly embody his philosophy of classification, if at all. These works, seen in fuller context and with the perspective of extensive correspondence, are consistent with the view that Darwin advocated only genealogy as the basis of classification, and that similarity was merely a tool for discovering evolutionary relationships. Darwin was neither a Mayrian taxonomist nor a cladist, and he did not approach systematic issues in the same terms that we do in the late 20th century. Minimize

Although contemporary high school and college textbooks of biology generally cover the principles and data of microevolution (genetic and populational change) and speciation rather well, coverage of what is known of the major changes in evolution (macroevolution), and how the evidence is understood is generally poor to nonexistent. It is critica...

Although contemporary high school and college textbooks of biology generally cover the principles and data of microevolution (genetic and populational change) and speciation rather well, coverage of what is known of the major changes in evolution (macroevolution), and how the evidence is understood is generally poor to nonexistent. It is critical to improve this because acceptance of evolution by the American public rests on the understanding of how we know what we know about the emergence of major new taxonomic groups, and about their adaptations, behaviors, and ecologies in geologic time. An efficient approach to this problem is to improve the illustrations in college textbooks to show the consilience of different lines of fossil, morphological, and molecular evidence mapped on phylogenies. Such “evograms” will markedly improve traditional illustrations of phylogenies, “menageries,” and “companatomies.” If “evograms” are installed at the college level, the basic principles and evidence of macroevolution will be more likely taught in K-12, thus providing an essential missing piece in biological education. Minimize

Abstract Topics related to evolution tend to generate a disproportionate amount of misunderstanding in traditional textbooks, other educational materials, and the media. This is not necessarily the fault of textbook and popular writers: many of these concepts are confusingly discussed in the scientific literature. However, faults can be correcte...

Abstract Topics related to evolution tend to generate a disproportionate amount of misunderstanding in traditional textbooks, other educational materials, and the media. This is not necessarily the fault of textbook and popular writers: many of these concepts are confusingly discussed in the scientific literature. However, faults can be corrected, and doing so makes it easier to explain related concepts. Three general areas are treated here: ideas and language about evolution, historical and philosophical aspects of evolution, and natural selection and related concepts. The aim of this paper is to produce a template for a more logical, historically and scientifically correct treatment of evolutionary terms and concepts. Minimize

ABSTRACT: The newest face of American creationism is “intelligent design”, a sociopolitical movement that appeals to people’s fear that evolution is atheistic. ID supposes that some biological structures are so complex that they cannot have been assembled by natural processes; therefore, when we recognize such “irreducible complex” features, the...